bikes

I will keep this short and sweet and encompass my thoughts on this saddle by giving you a few facts out of which you can decide for yourself wether or not this saddle is the Alpha and Ω…

I have been riding with this saddle for over a year.

I do not use padded anything on my booty and have had only basic saddle sores and only after a prolonged stay in anyone place, once riding for a week, all good.

The “Love Canal” as I affectionately dub it has lived up to its name and I have had no adverse side effects.

In LA, on Venice Blvd, near the big bakery, a guy shot out of his driveway and whacked me so hard that, god bless me and the world I inhabit, the seat popped off the rails! The entire shock of the accident went directly to the saddle. The guy apologized, I had a moment of Buddha consciousness and forgave him, we went to his buddy a mechanic who spent two hours working the saddle with tools and grease until he finally got it back on the rails, yes, it does creak a bit now….

I will use this saddle until it turns to dust. Thats a fact. Aloha and Mahalo WTB!

I will keep this short and sweet and encompass my thoughts on this saddle by giving you a few facts out of which you can decide for yourself wether or not this saddle is the Alpha and Ω…

I have been riding with this saddle for over a year.

I do not use padded anything on my booty and have had only basic saddle sores and only after a prolonged stay in anyone place, once riding for a week, all good.

The “Love Canal” as I affectionately dub it has lived up to its name and I have had no adverse side effects.

In LA, on Venice Blvd, near the big bakery, a guy shot out of his driveway and whacked me so hard that, god bless me and the world I inhabit, the seat popped off the rails! The entire shock of the accident went directly to the saddle. The guy apologized, I had a moment of Buddha consciousness and forgave him, we went to his buddy a mechanic who spent two hours working the saddle with tools and grease until he finally got it back on the rails, yes, it does creak a bit now….

I will use this saddle until it turns to dust. Thats a fact. Aloha and Mahalo WTB!

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Guerrero Negro was rad. Antonio, or Tony, or as he explained, backwards, Y not, get it, TONY YNOT, is one of the coolest dudes ever! Aside from being a totally undercover ninja boxer, I mean zero disrespect, I just did not see blazing quick jabs, ridiculous footwork and combos that made my head spin coming out of this gentleman. This morning as we were leaving, he told me his is not only interested in our “vegan” thing, further, he wants to incorporate it into the restaurant that is part of the hotel. The hotel Malarrimo. I am still not sure exactly what it means, something about being close to something that may not be good for you, but you love to be near, I guess for me that would be like alcohol. When we got a tour of the place, it was akin to being flung back in time, a museum of sorts with a very nice bar. There is a point on the coast in the “bowl of the ladel”, if you look at the coast, it runs south and then spoons out to the west and then heads south again. This spoon is a collection point for many many currents, all of these currents of course carry things, right, humans = trash, ocean currents carry it…sigh. Long story about oceanology short, he has been going there for some time collecting old fishing items and sea faring flotsam and jetsam, although jetsam is usually not collected as it sinks to Davey Jones locker… anyway, items like the hand blown glass fishing line bouys, life jackets from various ships, pieces of ships, flags, he even has an authentic WAHOO flag from a WWII vessel, a complete radio from a WWII naval life raft, training dummies, message cylinders, etc. One of the highlights are some very old paintings of the actual Guerrero Negro. This was a US whaling ship and the name means Black Warrior. Now, this place which seems a shrine to the brutal commerce of slaying the largest animals on the planet that we know of, will boast a vegan menu…. Pedaling for Peace rocks, Antonio rocks. If you read this Senor, Muchisimas Gracias! Bummer that puppy doggy [I was introduced to the guard dog and luckily escaped with only a shredded sleeve of my hoodie=] and I didnt get along, but, looking at the big picture, it was due to puppy that we were able to stay in the old Red Cross area and, vis a vis, got to sleep on a mattress. I wonder if I am using vis a vis correctly:) We are now at a sweet Pizza place after a super smooth ride from Guerrero Negro to Vizcaino. Such nice people, some cerveca, some vegan pizza, one of the few restaurants to boast vegetarian meals and knowledgeable about vegan, they know what the word means! If a zombie apocalypse were to happen tonight, I am stoked to be here as the husband of one of the chefs, I am assuming they own the place, family run, ANYWAY, this guy looks like a tank, I guess it would only be good if he didnt turn into a zombie…. How does all that get decided anyway, I mean, when the shit goes down, who becomes and doesnt become zombies, do you ever wonder that? I do… But then, I have a lot of time on my hands while pedaling… We have decided today to try and enlist the aid of a few of our friends to get us a row boat so we can row some of the coast as that would be rad, not to mention some of the road ahead looks a bit dreary, so, why not make the adventure mega adventurous! Thats why we are doing this right!?!? Almost time for our pizza, eating pickled jalapenos, carrots, and onions now, does it have a name… Jalapeños en escabeche… Thanks Diana, I would not have guessed that in a million years with a gun at my head and a trillion dollars on the line:) Time to eat. Aloha, they just made us fresh salsa! Aloha! One of the thoughts I had today when listening to Tom petty, the song night watchman… “they pay me to carry a 38, but a life is worth more than minimum wage…”. At what point I wonder would you kill another person. At what price point would you kill someone you know, some one you dont know…. What jobs do we accept as a society for killing those we dont know… Einstein has been often quoted as saying time is relative. I have never given this much though, well, actually, i have given this mountains of thought, but not until today, crossing the desert for the beginning of oyr second week did it make sense to me. Prior to this current adventure which I now share with my partner Diana, everyday had a name, every hour a purpose that was a success, or a stepping stone to another chunk of time where I would or would not do “something”right. Now, my days are no longer Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays – or hump days where I begin to longinly look towards the advent of the weekend, thursday, the day I would usually start drinking as friday was a whatever day and everyone knew it. Now all my days are today, and no matter how much I plot plan and scheme, I am never ablemto know what is coming, and finally after two years, it appears I am ok with that. For the most part, i still have stress about the great unknown of tomorrow, but then, thats ok, tomorrow is today, soon, very soon, I will be there:)

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Thanks for coming to our Sponsor page! The MOST HELPFUL thing you can do to support us is by looking at your own life everyday in order that you may move past your fears, becoming the happiest and healthiest you can be, this will invariably help to bring about the most important change and a better world for all.

What We would Like Assistance With:

1. A PATRON to fund our project. I keep it relatively simple as that seems to keep the adventure quotient high and there is no better reason for what we are doing than to have an Epic Adventure, after all, if the people on the mission aren’t stoked, what good is it?!. We keep it very simple: Food, water, bike parts not donated, VISA money, boat fares, bribe money, etc. Currently there is one rider, me, Chris Bornstein, its costs me 5-8k to go for a year, like I said, N I N J A !

2. We would like to find Sponsors and Donors who willing to lend a hand to projects that we find along the way that we feel are well led, well organized, and backed with sound reasoning and purpose. Please look at our Friends/Non-Profits page for groups/organizations we have found thus far!

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Thanks for coming to our Sponsor page! The MOST HELPFUL thing you can do to support us is by looking at your own life everyday in order that you may move past your fears, becoming the happiest and healthiest you can be, this will invariably help to bring about the most important change and a better world for all.

What We would Like Assistance With:

1. A PATRON to fund our project. I keep it relatively simple as that seems to keep the adventure quotient high and there is no better reason for what we are doing than to have an Epic Adventure, after all, if the people on the mission aren’t stoked, what good is it?!. We keep it very simple: Food, water, bike parts not donated, VISA money, boat fares, bribe money, etc. Currently there is one rider, me, Chris Bornstein, its costs me 5-8k to go for a year, like I said, N I N J A !

2. We would like to find Sponsors and Donors who willing to lend a hand to projects that we find along the way that we feel are well led, well organized, and backed with sound reasoning and purpose. Please look at our Friends/Non-Profits page for groups/organizations we have found thus far!

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I get a choice, I either laugh or cry and then one day I die, I will judge myself on my death bed for the times I could have laughed instead of cried, and since I am dying, I will not be able to lie or rationalize, I will see with the clarity that only comes from the last moments of life… so… in the immortal words of the joker, “if you gotta go,go with a smile=]”

“Do or do not, there is no try.” Yoda
“On the road of life you get flat tires, fix them and keep rollin'” Me
“Live vicariously through yourself” Me

I drove to a party in Tijuana tonight. It is a Couchsurfing party, but thats not why I am writing this, one party is ususaly as good as any other, ending as most do, with lots of trash and people rubbing sore heads the next day;…. No, my reason is that I drove.
If you have never driven in Tijuana, I cannot say Mexico as I do not know what it is like anywhere else, but here, in Tijuana, it is a lesson in Zen, going with the flow, it reminds me of a river gong through many twists and turns, a river with great force behind it.
For one, the rules of the road are faily basic, do not hit or be hit, close calls are the norm and a hairs breadth is how they are measured. the stop signs seem to be more a suggestion than a demand. At one point I turned to Carolina and said, “goodness, I just mossed a stop sign…”
She smiled politely and said, “that was the 6th one.”
There is a level of awareness you must have, yo actually have to be paying attention to what is going on in the road, to what is happening around you. Insurance is rare and a penalty for killing someone is actually severe, not a question of whose fault, but more that I alife was lost, there are actual consuqunces beyond a raise in insurance.
This was driving with a car, small pick up to be exact, now, from the saddle of my bike, the ninja.
At first, it is, well, for me, it was very scary, the rules of the road, as I said before are kind of suspended. Being on a bike suspends them further, trying to stay on the shoulder of the road for me is a near impossibility as this would require a mountain bike with suspension, so I find myself in the thick of it…
Its fun, again, its like a river, only now I am a leaf following the flow, not the water, i must watch out for the cars, busses, pedestrians, so many things, random holes and slashes in the surface which cold topple me into the flow where i would surely drown.
At the end of the day I feel safer, again, people do not want to hit me, further, the drivers are very aware of what is going on, further improved by the day-glo orange vest given to me as a gift by my freind Uncle Billy. Interesting, Uncle Billy, thelast time I heard that name I was in Hawaii…=]
I feel safer was what I was saying, much safer than the states, as there is such a blanket of laws that there are stories of people purposely hitting cyclists and getting away scott free, If I got hit here, it is almost assured that the hitter would have a very bad day indeed. Of course at the speed at which things happen here, I would as well, but, we neednt dwell on that, it hasnt happened.
Later….
The Couchsurfing party was fantastic, hosted in a huge mansion in the hills of Tijuana, big pool, plenty of opportunities to practicar mi espagnol, an impromptu eye exam and flushing by a med student on a motorcycle rider from the Netherlands who opened his visor while driving and got something in his eye at 60km and hour.
The family I am staying with here in Tijuana is so kind to me, that I find myself waiting for the “shoe to drop” at times, or I feel like a bad man, strange thing, a person or persons are very kind to me and I end up feeling like a bad man. Now, this is something to be worked on as it really can have a negative slant on the life a person, myself, will lead. As we know, if you wait for something, especially subconciously, seek so shall ye find, you will not be dissapointed.
I am waiting in traffic now to go back across the border to have a conversation with a camera company… The border still mystifies me, a true expression of a very aggressive symptomatic dealing with a problem. Is it not the companies in America who place such a high demand on illegal immigrant labor? Do not most companies put this labor into the bottom line on the documents that are leaked to the public? And yet, who is punished, the immigrants, usually at the business end of a gun…. so interesting for me the “way” things are done when it comes to business, no longer American business, for it is now the common denominator for how the world does business. We have managed to export the one thing that we argue so loudly against, thereby insuring that we will never be written out of the program as it stands now, because it is us who are writing it. Yes, Greed has been in existence for some time, and yet, if we look at simple numbers, we have the highest consumption per capita in the world, ergo, we are the greediest. This is the prgram that we export, we control it, so it does not mattert hat we no longer produce anything, we produce the reason for producing, and the way to make extravagant waste the norm. Its ingenious in a way, a diabolical way to be sure, but credit must be given where credit is due, the plan in itself is ingenious, its a shame that the designers never accounted for our species in the picture and only money.
This is the seed that is so often spoken of when people talk about the seed of destruction has been sown in the soil of the very crop being planetd for success. The money seed is great, and it is so great that if left unchecked, it will devour the planet till there is nothing left for the farmer to eat.
My only glimmer of hope is that the seeds of the programs destruction will be stronger than the program itself.
I’m on diatribe, enough.
I’m getting healthier here in Mexico, my eating has normalized, I eat much less and have increased energy, my sleep is better, the amount of fresh fruit I eat has increased exponentially, my “Simple food” intake is up and I feel fantastic! Being Vegan is at first daunting, there is a glut of meat here in Mexico, everything is meat and oft times the beans are made with manteca, a.k.a. lard. Vegan or not, lard is a hard road to hoe for the body and I would advise that no one eat it.
Back to consumerism, I am slowly making my way to the border crossing with Caolina and my goodness. I speak now if the roadside stores along the highway into America, the last minute shopping for Gringos going home… If supply is driven by demand, than as Americans we are telling Mexico that we love the following, cigarrettes (but you knew that), food that tastes good but will leave you inches frmo the grave, figurines (esp. Christ, Santa Maria, donkeys, spiderman, Mario, Transformers, old tyme children on benches, giant frogs, pigs, Mayan inspired pottery), Lucha Libre masks, blankets with – Scarface, Hello Kitty, Monster energy Drinks, American football teams (esp Seahawks), Zebra and leapord prints -, regular Mexican blankets, Futbol jerseys, Mexican flagsand lastly woven hammocks that I have yet to actually see hanging from anyones house, though I have seen them in garages across the states=]
We just cossed the border, and I am happy to sum it up in a word…. C R E E P Y.
You first drive through an entire bank of photograpic arrays, I think I lost a year or so of life for the moment, literally, I spent in the midst of so many different rays that my body basically just got hit by the equivalnet of a solar flare while standing inside a late model microwave outside of a partially melted down nuclear reactor with TV sets all around playing daytime soap operas.
Next we come to the open door of the agent and this is where it got wierd. he looked at us in the front seat with a kind of smile and then focused on little guy in his baby seat int he back, I am Big guy by the way, one of the best nicknames I have been given to date. Now, when I say focus, I mean it in the essence of the word, it seemed as though he was no loonger human and instead a robot with some kind of x-ray vision and he was having temporary difficulty with the lenses and had to focus them. The look was devoid of anything human, it was a machine looking through a child to find something else, something hidden.
I was creeped out, I’ve been creeped out by the whole wall thing, all of it is just creepy. I have yet to understand how anyone can believe we are workign towards peace when we spend ever increasing amounts on war. In that vein, check out the book, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, a lighthearted look at the world we live in from eyes of pilots on the war front.

And so, where am I now, time to continue packing and head for Ensenada!

Aloha!

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Another sweet mountain bike ride yesterday with total extremes of highs and lows, a, well, not sure if it is a low or a high, went over the bike handles at speed and supermanned into bushes that were full of poison Oak and Ivy. I did not get a new skin condition if you’re wondering=)

Saw Sammy Haggar, thats always a high point in my book, afterall, wasnt he responsible for the song “Right Now”.

Met a lot of really cool people yesterday in the biking world, Thanks for introducing me to all these cool people Maurice.

Saw True Grit the other night in a movie theater where they serve real food and great beer, felt like I was in Europe for a minute, but then, it was baby night, so, plenty of auxiliary noise=)

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That was the quote from the other day, included were such favorites as, “If I wasnt so hung over I would make a good dad”, a favorite of mine, ” its three bi-sexual girls, of course it’s going to be an orgy…”…

I have been seeing and hearing things that I once believed were relegated only to the cinema, not real life, my life has stretched the envelope so far at this point, I have no idea what is or is not normal…

I dont even know where I am going or what I am seeking any longer… You are reading the words of a fool!

I was at the Grand Canyon yesterday with two gentlemen from France, one was a sublime musician the other, a man who quit his ridiculous amount of money computer job to simply travel, for a long time. I may never again have the pleasure of hiking into one of the most awe inspiring landscapes whilst being serenaded by Frenchmen singing songs about Owls catching dinner….

I’m having a beer, it’s early, but, well, it was there….

Sometimes I think I get it, that I have it figured out, other times, well, like this morning, it’s not that I am sad, or melancholy, but, I just feel lost… The great thing is, I have come to that place where i know its all good, the “I’ll be taken care of” type of thinking, “god has my back”, I need a sign. The Ranger form the Grand Canyon told me she wanted to take me to Arches Nat’l park and some crazy adventure…. Could be cool…. Lets see if she writes.

I’m stoked to be going back to Vegas, so many people I have not seen for some time…. Will they still know me… do they care=)